Home Sweet Home

During the last couple days of our Midwest tour we performed at three nursing homes in Wichita and a church in Benton, KS. While at the Benton Church both Amy and Erin had the opportunity to share their testimonies with the audience members. One of the things that we spoke on was God’s faithfulness (and His sense of humor). Over and over He has shown us what an awesome God He is, providing for Ballet Emmanuel as a company as well as each dancer individually. It also seems that His sense of humor never fails to slip in, taking His people in unexpected directions.

We had wonderful and busy days while on tour –so much fun!! Although I must admit that by the time we finished our last performance on Wednesday night we were really looking forward to wearing “normal” clothing – i.e. no leotard or tights.

We arrived back in Colorado Springs on Thursday evening. A little weary of driving and quite excited to sleep in our own beds after three weeks of being on the road.

We feel very privileged to have been able to meet and minister to so many people in Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois and Kansas. Dancers, audience members, pastors, studio owners, nursing home residents and workers… so many wonderful people. It is such an amazing thing to be able to use the gifts that God has given us to reach out to and encourage people in the name of Jesus!

Thank you for all your prayers!

Just a few more (random) pictures...

Snow in Michigan

Erin and her Grandpa

Stretching feet before a show

Laci's new little cousin

A lovely little ballerina

Silly time :0)

Be sure to check back for new posts!

Travel...Travel...Travel...

Our last stop before leaving Michigan was at West Kalamazoo Church on Sunday, the 14th. We had a wonderful time performing for and worshiping with the members of the congregation. We left with a very large heart-shaped brownie, so we would say it was a success :0)


On Monday, we went to David’s Bridal to get bridesmaid dresses for Laci’s wedding and to her surprise, her wedding dresses were in a month early (yes, she bought 2…one for the full wedding and one for the 2nd reception)! We all looked very cute in our dresses and “ugg” boots.

As soon as we were done at David’s Bridal, we headed on out to Stoughton, Wisconsin (a last minute addition to our tour). We had a great time out there performing for the residents of Swifthaven Assisted Living Center and visiting with Erin’s grandparents (who live at Swifthaven), and aunts. We were also able to go down to town to the “world famous” Fosdal’s Bakery where we enjoyed very delicious donuts, as well as Cheesers, where we had the unique experience of sampling chocolate cheese. The verdict is…. It tastes like fudge.

From Wisconsin, we headed to East St. Louis where we worked with children at the Christian Activities’ Center. We were very excited to get to work with this group of underprivileged kids. We taught them a couple of technique classes as well as a choreography class. at the end of the evening they performed the dance we had taught them for parents and classmates. After they finished performing several of the girls begged us to put the music back on so that they could “do it again”. We wished we could have had more than one day with them!

From there we drove to Wichita, Kansas, where we have been accompanied by some rain and sleet. But we are still in Kansas Toto, so no complaining. On our way here, we stopped by Lamberts “home of the throwed rolls”. It was our one “planned” just-for-fun expedition. We ate way more food than we should have and thoroughly enjoyed the old-fashioned decorative pictures and ads. Especially the “”Ex-Lax” ad, apparently it’s “a treat for the whole family” ;0)

Since arriving in Kansas, we have had a little bit of time to relax, emphasis on the “little”. Friday, we had the wonderful opportunity of taking class with Sharon Rogers, Amy’s teacher, at Friends University. We enjoyed the class very much, although after 2 weeks of not having class in a studio, we were so sore that we struggled to pry ourselves out of bed the next morning. We also had a performance that night at West Evangelical Free Church in Wichita. The church spoiled us with a very elegant meal before the concert, and lots of people attended the event.

The next day (Saturday, the 20th), we held a workshop at Kingman Dance Center. 10 girls from the ages of 9-20 attended. They all did an amazing job learning the choreography. We all had a lot of fun!!

This morning (Sunday the 21st) we had the privilege of dancing at Amy’s in-laws’ church in Winfield, Kansas. The congregation was touched by our performance and especially enjoyed having Amy there.

This afternoon we taught a workshop to 13 students at the Dance Camp Studio here in Winfield. We especially enjoyed the Bible study time we had with the girls. They had some great insights into the passage we studied. It was wonderful to spend time with high school students that are so passionate for God!

Here are a just few of the fun things we’ve done this past week…

Nursing Home in Fenton, MI
Thursday was our second visit to the Fenton Nursing home (our first was last May). It was lots of fun to be able to go back and recognize some of the residents and staff members. One of the residents enjoyed our performance so much that she decided that she and a nurse should run off and join the ballet!

Workshop in Frankenmuth, MI
On Friday we headed back to the quaint town of Frankenmuth (it was a little less snowy this time), where we held a workshop for over 40 students. Ballet class, modern class, choreography, Israeli dancing…. The dancers were wonderful to work with and we all had a great time! A couple of people took pictures for us that we will hopefully be able to post soon!
After the workshop they took us out to a restaurant in downtown Frankenmuth called Zhenders. We decided that our favorite thing to eat there was the enormous, double chocolate brownie :0)

Workshop in Jackson, MI
We held an all day workshop in Jackson, MI at 1st Church of Christ Christian on Saturday. There were 16 participants from the age of 4 to 13. All of the students learned their dances quickly – we were very impressed. The 4-6 year olds loved all the activities we had for them especially the Bible story. They all had to be right up close to the book and be the first to point out all the animals. Very cute! At the end of the workshop the students had the opportunity to perform for their families and friends. They all remembered their dances…well mostly. It was a great performance!

On Tuesday (the 9th) it snowed all day and turned the town of North Branch, Michigan into a winter fairy land. We trudged through the snow to perform at two senior centers that day. Our second performance (located in Burton, Michigan) served as the seniors’ weekly “church” meeting. Several of the people who came to watch us don’t normally attend the church meetings but were curious about the dancers. After we finished our program they told the pastor that if they had known that church could be like this they would have attended every week!

The next morning we were scheduled to perform at a school in Frankenmuth, MI. Unfortunately, the school was closed because of all the snow. We have never been so disappointed to have school canceled :0(

...but it did give us some free time to explore the ice sculptures and quaint Dutch design of downtown Frankenmuth.

On Wednesday night we held a master class for 18 students at the Fountain Dance Ministry in Brighton, Michigan. The girls did an excellent job learning so much choreography in just a little over an hour and we thoroughly enjoyed working with them.

Welcome to Ballet Emmanuel's Blog!

We are on day 6 of our three week Midwest tour. (Luckily its not a 3 hour tour with Gilligan at the helm!)

We had our first workshop last Friday and Saturday at Country Christian Church in North Branch, MI. Over 65 students ages 4 through adult kept us on our toes.

Our youngest students loved walking down our sparkly pixy-dust path on their way to their classrooms. During creative movement class we acted out Noah’s ark where each child chose their favorite animal to portray. Among the many dogs and cats aboard the boat we had one special cockatiel. When it was time to get off the boat one of our 6 year olds let us know that we had to “wait 8 years for the water to recede” before departing.

We have lots of fun pictures from the workshop that we are looking forward to posting soon!